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Study Suggests Just 7.5 Percent of Americans at Low Risk for Heart Disease
New findings published in the online edition of Circulation suggest that, despite steady progress to control cardiovascular disease, which is the leading killer in the United States, more than 90 percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for the disease, TIME reports. The findings are drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), a national study under which researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collect data on a rotating sample of thousands of adults between age 25 and age 74. Researchers examined whether participants possessed risk factors for cardiovascular disease—such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, a smoking history and diabetes—to determine whether they were low- or high-risk. Between 1999 and 2004, only 7.5 percent of adults were considered low-risk for all five factors, marking a noticeable decline from the 10.5 percent of adults recorded in the 1988 to 1994 survey. Breaking the findings down across demographic categories, 10.5 percent of women in the current study were considered at low-risk for heart disease, compared with just 4.8 percent of men. Whites were also more likely to be considered low risk at 8.2 percent, compared with 4.6 of African Americans and 5.3 percent of Mexican Americans, findings that TIME suggests is likely linked with socioeconomic disparities, unequal access to care and genetic factors. The researchers conclude that progress made in the 1970s and 1980s to lower cardiac risk factors have "eroded." In an accompanying editorial, a professor from Harvard Medical School and a professor from the Harvard School of Public Health say that the studies offer an "important signal" that attitudes toward health must change, adding that supporting optimal nutrition and physical activity will "not just lower rates of disease and medical costs but also enhance physical and mental well-being." (Kluger, TIME, 9/14/09; Reuters, 9/14/09; Ford et al., Circulation, 9/14/09 [subscription required]; van Dam/Willett, Circulation, 9/14/09 [subscription required])